5 AI Tools Your Business Can Start Using This Week

You don't need a six-month AI strategy to start using AI today. Five tools exist right now that cost little or nothing, require zero technical skills, and solve problems every business has. The trick is knowing which one fits your situation and how to get past the first 20 minutes without giving up.

ChatGPT: Your First Hire That Never Sleeps

ChatGPT is the tool most business owners have heard of but few have figured out how to use consistently. The free tier handles email drafting, brainstorming, summarizing documents, and answering “how do I…” questions. The $20/month Plus plan adds file uploads, image generation, and access to the latest model.

Best use case: Drafting first versions of customer emails, proposals, and social media posts. Tell it your business context once, and it adapts the tone to match.

Setup in 10 minutes: Create an account at chat.openai.com. Write a “custom instruction” describing your business, your typical customers, and your preferred writing tone. Every conversation after that starts with context it already knows.

The honest downside: ChatGPT makes things up. It sounds confident even when it's wrong. Never send its output to a customer without reading it first. It works best as a first draft tool, not an autopilot. For a deeper look at whether you need a tool like this or something custom-built, see AI tools vs custom solutions.

Zapier: Connect the Apps You Already Use

Zapier connects over 6,000 apps and lets you build automations without writing code. When something happens in one app (a form gets submitted, an email arrives, a payment clears), Zapier triggers an action in another app. The free plan gives you 100 tasks per month. Paid plans start at $20/month.

Best use case: Automatic follow-ups. When someone fills out your contact form, Zapier can add them to your CRM, send a confirmation email, and notify your sales team on Slack, all within seconds. No human has to touch it.

Setup in 15 minutes: Sign up, connect two apps you already use (your form tool and your email tool is a good start), and build a “Zap” that runs whenever the trigger fires. Zapier walks you through each step.

The honest downside: Complex automations get expensive fast. Each step in a workflow counts as a task, and multi-step Zaps on the free plan are limited. Start with one simple automation and measure whether it saves enough time to justify upgrading.

Notion AI: Think Inside the Doc

If your team already uses Notion for notes, wikis, or project management, the built-in AI features ($10/user/month add-on) let you summarize pages, draft content, extract action items from meeting notes, and ask questions about your workspace.

Best use case: Meeting follow-ups. Paste raw meeting notes into a Notion page and ask AI to extract action items, summarize the discussion, and format it into a clean update you can share with the team. What used to take 15 minutes takes 30 seconds.

Setup in 5 minutes: If you have Notion, enable AI from your workspace settings. Highlight any text block and select “Ask AI” from the menu. Try “summarize this” or “turn this into action items” first.

The honest downside: Notion AI only works inside Notion. If your team uses Google Docs or doesn't have a Notion workspace, this tool isn't worth switching platforms for. It's a powerful add-on, not a reason to change your workflow.

Canva AI: Design Without a Designer

Canva's AI features (available on the free tier for basic use, $13/month for Pro) generate images, remove backgrounds, resize designs for different platforms, and suggest layouts based on your content. The “Magic Write” feature also drafts copy for social posts and presentations.

Best use case: Social media content. Describe what you need (“Instagram post announcing a summer sale for a home services company”) and Canva generates multiple design options with placeholder text. Edit the text, swap colors to match your brand, and post.

Setup in 10 minutes: Log in to Canva, open a new design for your target platform (Instagram, Facebook, etc.), and look for the “Magic” tools in the left sidebar. Try “Magic Design” first: upload your logo and describe your content.

The honest downside: AI-generated designs look generic if you don't customize them. The default templates are recognizable, and your posts will look like everyone else's if you publish them without editing. Use AI for the first draft and spend 5 minutes making it yours.

Otter.ai: Stop Taking Notes in Meetings

Otter joins your Zoom, Google Meet, or Microsoft Teams calls, transcribes the conversation in real time, and generates a summary with action items. The free plan gives you 300 minutes of transcription per month. Pro ($17/month) adds team features and more minutes.

Best use case: Client calls. Otter records and transcribes the conversation so you can focus on the discussion instead of scribbling notes. After the call, it generates a summary with key decisions and next steps you can share with your team or the client.

Setup in 5 minutes: Sign up, connect your calendar, and invite the Otter bot to your next meeting. It joins automatically and starts transcribing. After the call, check the transcript and summary in your Otter dashboard.

The honest downside: Transcription accuracy drops with background noise, accents, or multiple speakers talking at once. Always review the summary before sending it to a client. For internal notes, the raw transcript is usually good enough.

Which One Should You Start With?

Pick the one that solves your biggest time sink. If you spend hours writing emails: ChatGPT. If you manually move data between apps: Zapier. If your meeting notes are a mess: Otter or Notion AI. If you need social graphics but don't have a designer: Canva.

Don't try all five at once. Install one this week, use it for a specific task, and measure whether it saves you time. If it does, make it part of your routine. If it doesn't, try the next one. The goal is building a habit, not collecting apps.

For a broader perspective on what AI adoption looks like for non-technical owners, check the non-technical owner's guide. Once you outgrow these free tools, our AI tools comparison matrix covers paid options across four categories. And to see these kinds of tools working live, try our demos.